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Chapter 30 - Respiratory weaning
from Section III: - Organ dysfunction and management
- By Darshan Pandit
Edited by Fang Gao Smith, University of Warwick
Edited in association with Joyce Yeung
Book:

Core Topics in Critical Care Medicine

Published online:

06 July 2010

Print publication:

22 April 2010, pp 241-245
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Summary

Disorders of acid-base equilibrium are common in critically ill and injured patients. The presence of these disorders often signals severe underlying pathophysiology and, particularly in the case of metabolic acidosis, is a significant marker of adverse outcome. The traditional theory makes us believe that the hydrogen ion concentration (pH) in blood is mainly influenced by balance between the carbon dioxide and the bicarbonate ions in the blood. An acid load sufficient to reduce an unbuffered solution to a pH less than 2 only reduces the blood pH of an animal by 0.3 pH units. Disturbances of the acid-base equilibrium have their own morbidity and mortality. A blood pH less than normal (normal range 7.35-7.45) is called acidaemia; the underlying process causing acidaemia is called acidosis. Similarly, alkalaemia and alkalosis refer to a raised pH and the underlying process, respectively.